What’s In a Baptism? (a sermon from Luke 3:15-22)
John, the Baptizer drew people from the villages and towns out into the desert. He believed a new order, a new reality was about to break forth and in preparation he called people out to the desert for repentance and renewal. According to Luke John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, here is Jesus going out into the desert and being baptized by John. Did Jesus feel the need for personal repentance and renewal or was he simply identifying collectively with his people? You can think about that later because I don’t intend to go down that road. I want us today to think about baptism in our own experience and tradition. What does it signify for us? What’s in a baptism? Of course, it’s very possible we could have different perspectives on this, which is okay. Certainly Christians of different traditions have different ideas and not all Baptists believe the same things when it comes to baptism. So, here’s what I think. First of all, I th...